Working on the dock is not an easy job. Every day a lot of cargo needs to be unloaded or loaded, almost from dawn until late at night.
The salary is very low and the intensity is very high, so it is difficult to recruit enough people, which is the agreement to work less than half a year to pay 50 yuan for breach of contract provisions. There are also reasons why it is six months, not one or two years. This kind of intense work may only give people a sense of fatigue in the early days, but as the work time increases, the physical aspect is no longer as simple as fatigue.
Lack of nutritional supplement, no comfortable rest environment, there will be steam locomotives passing at night, over time accumulated illness, these porters more or less will appear some physical problems, such as skeletal deformities and other "occupational diseases". According to the capitalists, the sick workers could no longer afford the heavy haulers, and it was a loss to pay them to feed and drink, and the only way out for them was to be kicked out.
But things can't be so smooth, because there are trade unions. Trade unions are the kind of thing that makes all capitalists sick and nauseous and want to vomit. They hate trade unions and cannot leave them. They pinch their noses as much as possible to make themselves feel better. Under the double scrutiny of imperial law and theocracy, they avoid certain rules.
For example, an occupational disease is a work-related injury. The station either pays a large sum of money to send the workers away or keeps them until they are forty-five.
God in heaven, let alone feed them, even paying five cents more is a kind of cuts for capitalists to make them feel pain, so the station agreements are signed every six months. When the agreement expires, the station will write a note to the workers who are required to renew the contract. They will not be able to sign the agreement until they have been checked up to confirm that they are not sick or skeletal deformities. As for the workers who are physically ill, they are thrown out of the way. Whether they are sick or tired or sick because they are doing heavy physical work at the station has nothing to do with the station after fulfilling the contract.
At that time, the trade union had no right to split the knife with the excuse and the station.
Of course, Durin wouldn't know that. In Mr. Kern's eyes, this was a country fool who threw himself out after six months. What? Study? That's his daughter's school. Why not introduce the workers to learn a little bit, to increase their knowledge and upbringing?
Durin arrived at the station early the next morning, and there was a chill of autumn in the early morning of late summer and early autumn. His hands rubbed his arms and brought some warmth to his body. Standing by the platform with the oil lamp, there were already many workers around, ready for the first steam locomotive.
"The new one?" A man in his thirties, sturdy and bear-like, wore only a vest. He had a cigarette in his mouth, took another one, and handed it to Durin.
When they were in the countryside, their brothers sometimes stole Mr. Kosma's cigarettes, and each took a puff, which was not necessarily an addiction, but a mere pleasure. Faced with a cigarette from a stranger, he hesitated to come, took it, and thanked him for it. "Thank you for your cigarette. I'm Durin."
The bear took out a match and rubbed it on Durin's collar, and suddenly a strong white smoke rose. They both leaned their heads away from the supposedly poisonous white smoke before they reached the burning match and lit the cigarette.
"Smoking is forbidden at the station. It is said that smoking in other places has caused burning of cargo at the station," the man said, throwing the match on the ground, stepping on a few feet, crushing it, taking a deep breath and puffing out his cigarette. He reached out and grinned. "My name is Graf. I'm glad to be your friend.
Dulin shook hands with Graff and felt a lot of intimacy. The charm of socializing is that simple conversations, and perhaps not gift sharing, can quickly bring strangers closer together.
"I am very honored, sir." Dulin was very polite. He took a breath and then coughed up.
Graf laughed loudly. He patted Durin on the back and laughed and said, "Don't use the word sir. It's the name of a gentleman. Just call me. Besides, is it enough? " He took off the cigarettes in his mouth and held his fingers in front of Dulin.
He coughed for a while before Durin came through. He dared not smoke the cigarette any more. He coughed and looked pale. "What the hell is that?"
Graf seemed very happy and proud. "Besides a small amount of tobacco, there was straw, vine gourd dried and shredded, and by the way, there was some blood orange peel and a little bit of ground chili peel."
"You let go of that kid, Graff, who can bear your that?" Some people noticed this situation, and some workers immediately laughed and shouted.
Graf, unconcerned, took his cigarette back in his mouth and gave them a sidelong glance.'This guy can stand it!' He arched Du Lin with his arm and nearly broke Du Lin's balance and fell to the ground.
In fact, most of the cigarettes that workers smoke are cigarettes that add something to themselves because they don't make enough money to qualify them for expensive things like cigarettes. They usually pick up some cigarette ends left about a centimeter from the station, pour out the tobacco leaves and collect them. If these tobacco leaves were rolled into cigarettes only, they could only roll two or three cigarettes a day. But if you add a bit of material, you can roll out a bag more or less.
The upper class society has the luxury of the upper class, and the bottom society also has the survival wisdom of the bottom society. After experimenting with a variety of things, most people approve of dried vine gourd shreds and dried blood orange peels. As for Graff's increased rice straw and chili powder... That's his hobby.
Durin looked at Graf's sincere eyes and expectations, and the kind and simple country boy had to take another hard bite, and his face was turning white. "Yes, yes!" After that, he coughed a few times and made Graff laugh.
Dulin can see that Graff is not playing with him, he is really happy to laugh.
At this time the steam locomotive in the distance began to whistle, and the workers began to pick up their tools and stand on the platform waiting for unloading.
When the steam locomotive arrived at the station, Durin discovered that the so-called "standard goods" did not mean a package, a sack or a box, but a lot. According to some knowledge he has learned in his dream, there are almost four cubes. In fact, it's right to think about it. If you can give two cents just for one trip, I'm afraid the station doesn't need to recruit workers at all. It's crowded and exploded by workers.
Graf handed Durin two ropes tied at both ends, then helped him cross his arms and put them on his shoulders, forming an X-shape behind his back. "If you only run five or six times with brute force, you won't have the strength. You can use this rope to tie the two corners of the box, with the help of the strength of your body, relatively easy to return. Don't hurt your body. " He said, with a hammer on Dulin's shoulder, "you have to learn a lot, brother!"
The morning's work was relatively relaxed, and there were not many steam locomotives to catch the night's journey. It was only in the afternoon that Durin realized the real fatigue. Steam locomotives kept coming in, and Mr. Kern came out of his office, shouting at the workers and arranging the dispatch. He was almost busy from one o'clock to seven o'clock in the evening before he could catch his breath.
Durin, whose arms were already shaking and unable to clench his fists, sat at the table, holding a loaf of bread in his shaking hand and drinking the broth on the table.
Today, according to the workers, he earned twelve points. If he keeps going like this, he'll make $5.1 this month, which is a good result for a beginner.
Graf came over with a bowl full of broth and a few loaves of bread. He sat on the edge of Durin, munching at the bread. He could not even speak clearly. "Don't take a bath at night, take off your clothes and go to bed. Don't do anything else, or you won't be able to do anything tomorrow."
Durin always believed what experienced people said, and Graf did not say anything that made him feel ridiculous, just to keep him from taking a bath. Without much time to think about it, Durin was determined to believe Graf's advice, and he asked a question.
"Mr. Kern told me that the unionists would come to me in a few days and tell me not to join the union. Should I join it?"
There was a look of contempt on Graf's face, and he looked back at the lighted window on the second floor and sneered, "Don't listen to that swindler. If you don't join the union, who can guarantee the rights and interests of the underprivileged workers? He just wants to pick up a bargain from you. Besides, is the fifty point membership fee very expensive?
Durin nodded, drank the broth from the bowl and ate a piece of meat the size of his little fingernail.
"I see!"